TPM: Voter ID Under Fire At Progressive Conference; Obama Calls Restrictions A 'Big Mistake'

[highplainsdem]

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/10/voter_id_under_fire_at_progressive_conference_obama_calls_restrictions_a_big_mistake.php

A few dozen progressives sat in a room in the Washington Hilton on Monday during the Take Back the American Dream Conference discussing how restrictive voter ID laws would affect the 2012 election.

-snip-

Plenty of people blame the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) for pushing the laws around the country. One attendee said the laws had "ALEC DNA" and the panel said there was little doubt that conservative groups were behind the legislative push.

-snip-

"I will say that my big priority is making sure that as many people are participating in our democracy as possible," Obama said (in a radio interview last week). "Some of these moves in some of the other states that we've seen try to make it tougher to vote, restricting ballot access, making it hard on seniors, making it hard on young people.

"I think that's a big mistake, and I have made sure that our Justice Department is taking a look at what's being done across the country to ensure that people aren't being denied access to the franchise," Obama said.

It's good that President Obama is talking about these harmful new laws designed to suppress voting. I wish he'd mention ALEC, too -- it would be one of the most effective ways to make Americans aware of how dangerous and inherently anti-democratic (small-D) ALEC and its legislative puppets are.

Much more info about the harm this corporate-front group does in the long compilation topic on the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

[midnight]

1. The fact that they have infiltrated our justice system allows

Wisconsin supreme Prosser to chock a female supreme and believe that it is nothing more than a reflex..... These people are unstable...